Sunday evening, the University of the East Red Warriors made a gallant comeback in the fourth quarter against the Far Eastern University Tamaraws but fell short once more, 67-59.
UE’s loss against the defending champions marked their third straight defeat, sending them down to a 0-3 hole early in the season.
And head coach Derrick Pumaren is not pleased with the way things have turned out for his Red Warriors squad, especially with the way UE play on the offensive side of the floor.
“I’m frustrated, at the same time, disappointed,” said Pumaren post-game. “As I’ve told the team, we make stops, we play defense, but the game of basketball is putting the ball inside the hoop.”
“How can we win if we’re shooting 29 percent? Until we find ways to put the ball inside the hoop, that’s when we’ll start winning.”
Regarding tonight’s loss versus FEU, Pumaren slammed the game’s officiating, particularly the call against rookie Wil Bartolome at the 1:26 mark of the final quarter, when he was whistled for a foul for an elbow against Ron Dennison.
Bartolome was then thrown out of the game, and Pumaren blamed the incident, saying that it cost them the game.
“That was the turning point. We lost because of that,” he lamented.
“The call was just a foul. Why did they change it to a disqualifying foul? He was 6’6”, siyempre tatamaan niya above the shoulder cause he was boxing out. Hindi naman intentional.
“I don’t know what transpired there that they changed it to a disqualifying foul. That means the call of the referees was changed. The referees should call the fouls, run the show. They shouldn’t go to the table and call it a disqualifying one after calling it a foul. It’s like you cannot protest their calls because it’s a judgment call.
“I think they should have let us play. I don’t agree totally with that. Kung siniko niya, di ako magko-complain, but I saw it on the screen. That was a big call, I mean big change of call,” Pumaren added.
Pumaren and his troops are fully aware of where UE are right now, but for the veteran coach, all they have to do is to regain their bearings to be able to produce better outings the next time around.
“We’re 0-3, I know everybody is down. We’re all disappointed and frustrated, expectations are high, but we’re in this hole right now and we just have to climb out of it,” said Pumaren.
Now that the damage has already been done, UE’s focus shifts to their next match-up against the University of the Philippines on Wednesday, September 21.
“We have UP. The important thing is we don’t underestimate UP. We have to come out and be ready for UP because we’re not out of it,” the veteran mentor concluded.
“The season is still young, it has just started, but we have to move.”
